Shooters Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar today gave India its first medal of the 18th Asian Games being held in Indonesia. In the Finals of the 10-metre Air Rifle Mixed Team event, the pair finished third with 429.9 points to bag a Bronze medal. China and Chinese Taipei are now battling it out for the Gold. Apurvi and Ravi had entered the Finals after finishing second in the qualification.
However, in the 10-metre Air Pistol Mixed Team event, the Indian pair of Manu Bhaker, the 16-year old Commonwealth Games and World Cup Gold medalist, and Abhishek Verma failed to qualify for the Finals after they ended sixth in the Qualification.
Another CWG Gold medalist Shreyasi Singh and Seema Tomar are now figuring in the Qualification of Women’s Trap event, with Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Lakshya featuring in Men’s Trap.
In Swimming, Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj today qualified to their respective Finals. While Sajan finished second in the heats of Men’s 200 metres Butterfly event, Nataraj ended first in the Men’s 100 metres Backstroke qualification. The Finals will be held in the evening.
In Rowing, Om Prakash and Sawarn Singh qualified to the Men’s Double Sculls Finals with a first-place finish in the heats. Malkeet Singh and Gurinder Singh also qualified to the Final in Men’s Pair event.
In Kabaddi, the Indian Women’s team began their campaign with a 43-12 win over Japan in their opening Group-A game. The Men’s team will play their opener against Bangladesh in the afternoon.
In Women’s Basketball, India lost their opening group game against Chinese Taipei, 61-84.
In Wrestling, Sushil Kumar, who won a Bronze at the Games in 2006, and also Bajrang Punia, Sandeep Tomar, Pawan Kumar and Mausam Khatri will be seen in action in their respective categories, hoping to win Gold medals and give India a flying start to the Games.
The Indian Women’s Hockey team will kick off their campaign against Indonesia in the evening in their first Pool-B match.
In Badminton, world number eight Kidambi Srikanth will lead the Indian Men’s team when it faces the Maldives in the Round-of-16.
In Volleyball, the Indian eves will face South Korea in the opener.
